The Pitfalls of Marketing Personas when Analyzing Customer Data

January 09, 2024 | 12:00 PM ET | USA

Marketing strategy must include segmentation, which is the process of breaking down a diverse consumer base into smaller, more homogeneous groups. Marketing managers frequently attempt to make customer segments “come to life” once they have divided the market into distinct groups. They do this by giving the groups descriptive names, such as “Urban Millenials,” “Minivan Moms,” and “Detailed, Fictional Representations of a Typical Consumer in the Segment.”

Although these sense-making initiatives are said to have several advantages (such as improving customer centricity and providing a deeper comprehension of consumers’ needs), nothing is known about how segment naming and persona-writing affect people’s views of consumer segments. In this webinar, we’ll demonstrate how these tactics can, ironically, make it harder for individuals to forecast the traits and preferences of consumers because they exacerbate real distinctions across segments and condense the variability that exists within each one. Additionally, we will offer some countermeasures to lessen these impacts and improve the value of marketing personas.